An interior of a town house in Schellebelle, Belgium

An interior of a town house in Schellebelle, Belgium

My client who had just bought a small townhouse in Schellebelle contacted me early this year. He wanted to have a modern, sleek and stylish interior without any demolition works and a limited budget.

It seems to me that we sometimes tend to forget that beautiful interiors don’t always require to be in a mansion. Amazing things can be designed for a small apartment, home or office. It has all got to do with available opportunities and ample creativity. This town house, even though it was small, had a lot of potential. Thus it was a pleasure to take on this project.

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I started with the presentation of a number of preliminary designs with different possibilities. It was easy to work with my client who knew very clearly what he wanted.  Hence we were able to choose a draft fairly quickly. His only hesitation was about the colour palette. My first proposal was a palette of natural colours: khaki, olive green, mocha brown and light beige tones. Although he was drawn to it, he hesitated between my proposal and a more streamlined palette of black, white and grey. Part of my job is guide the client in making decisions. Thus, I advised him to go for the palette of black, white and grey. Why? Every photo he picked up was a picture in that hue. Something that you really like to see, brings you back to it, sometimes even unconsciously.

Once we had the basics I could continue designing and thinking about the details. As to what chair, table in which measurement, colour or texture. Once everything was chosen it was time for a design presentation which entailed 2D plans, samples and documentation and last but not least photorealistic 3D images!

Interior of the dinning room and kitchen

Given the small space, we decided to leave the dining room and kitchen on the ground floor and move the living room to the first floor. When you try to put too many things in a small space the space ends up looking cramped. But on the other hand if you put fewer and bigger items your space will look visually larger.

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This was my first proposal, considering it was my favorite, but I also wanted to show the client some other alternatives for the table.

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Coincidentally, the client also choose my favorite proposal 🙂

The kitchen, which was in a good condition, has been retained pertaining to the client’s wishes. The walls and ceilings are white to keep to the theme of black, white, grey and to optically give an illusion of more space. The heating next to the kitchen is hidden inside a closet with wooden slats. The piece above the heating is foreseen of a revolving door and gives access to a cabinet for storage. The hanging unit in matt black lacquer makes the room warmer, has extra storage options and features indirect lighting underneath. Windows are clad with wooden slats in black matt lacquer. The cherry on the cake is of course the gorgeous table in light oak which is 3 meters long. Next to that you have the beautiful and comfortable chairs in black contrasting with the table. Since I wanted to keep the exisiting connections for the lighting I choose a fairly flexible system which enables just that but still entails the seamless design.

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View to the existing kitchen. The entrance hall is now separated from the kitchen with a glass door. The existing heating next to the stairs is also placed inside a frame.

Interior of a living room.

An ordinary bedroom that would have served as a guest bedroom for the rare times that someone would spend the night, is now a cozy living space.

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This is a living space that is warm and cozy even though I have worked with relatively cool colors. A beautiful sofa is the eye catcher in the room that graps all the attention. The floating shelf behind the sofa with the paintings gives the client the ability to use the wall as a feature wall without having to paint it in a contrasting colour. A wall which could have easily been dull has just the opposite effect now. I specifically choose a light fitting for this room which illuminates the room in a subtle way and gives ample light without drawing too much attention to the fitting itself. All the windows in the house are clad in wooden slats in black matt lacquer – so the interior as well as the exterior of the house has the same look and theme.

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The deep niche in the room is used for custom cabinets for storage. In the implementation phase, the cabinet doors are to be painted along with the walls so they stand out as little as possible. The interior of the cabinet will be finished in black to match the low TV unit in front of it. The opening to the storage room is now closed with a pivot door that is seamlessly finished and doesn’t attract too much attention.

The addition of the carpet, cushions and accessories completes the room.

Transformation of the attic in to a bedroom and dressing.

An attic that could be otherwise just a wasted space has now been transformed into a luxurious bedroom and dressing.

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The entire house is designed with the same theme. It is specially important for a small house to have the same atmosphere everywhere. For example, the furniture in the bedroom is also in black and the walls in white. The pale wood floor makes everything warmer along with the lighting and decoration.

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The railing around the stairs serves at the same time as a library / media cabinet on the side of the bed and as storage for shoes and shirts on the side of the dressing.

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The directional lighting in the beams and the floor lamps next to the mirror and on the night table give the bedroom and dressing a warm, glowing light that can be adapted to achieve the desired atmosphere.

The result of this presentation? Not only do I have very a happy client but this project is also going into implementation. So keep following my blog to see the implemented version of this interior.

As you can see, it does not always have to be a villa or a new modern residence. Beautiful design can be implimented anywhere. Ready to tackle your small townhouse? Contact me.

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